95 corolla 277k miles. 4 hours into a long trip went over a huge bump and the shocks seemed to “bottom out”. Like they compressed as much as they could.
Pulled over half hour later for a break.
After that drove rest of way home. Car started shuddering and slowing down going up a hill. Had to floor it just to get it to be 60 mph. Hill wasn’t that steep. Seemed to do ok on flat parts.
Was a little low on gas so pulled over to fill up.
Noticed car idled very roughly felt like it was going to stall while pulling into gas station.
Gas cap was a little loose. Didn’t hear the whoosh of the vacuum you usually hear when undoing the gas cap either.
After that it seemed to be a little better going up hills. I drove it home, and a day later drove it and it seemed to go up hills ok.
It still idles very weirdly, roughly and like it’s about to stall. While driving it sounds ok.
What do you think? I was thinking fuel pump but now i’m not sure. It might be related to the gas cap, maybe the bump loosened it.
In all likelihood, the gas cap has nothing to do with any of your problem(s)
I happen to have a 1995 Corolla factory service manual, because I used to own a 1995 corolla
If you can tee in a fuel pressure gauge, I can tell you if the pressure is okay
If I were you, I would hook up a spark tester and check for bright blue spark at every wire
I thought you got rid of the old warhorse, because we hadn’t heard from you in awhile
Your struts are probably shot, if they’re still the originals from 1995, especially at 277k
FYI . . . I’m 99% certain your car is not OBD2 compliant. So you can forget getting codes read for free at autozone. I’m mentioning this, because some 1994 and 1995 cars were compliant. My corolla was a 49-state car. So unless you have a california-spec car, and they were compliant, you’re out of luck there.
"the cel has been on for years. Clogged egr valve. Probably been on 10 years "
The problem with ignoring the CEL is that, 10 years later, there could be 5, or 8, or 10, or…God only knows…how many additional trouble codes stored. In a case like this, ignorance is NOT bliss, so I urge you to have the codes read a.s.a.p., before you attempt any repair work.
I agree the codes should be read, and OP should tell us what those codes are
However, because this is in all likelihood obd1, finding a shop to read them for free is unlikely. Autozone probably only has those generic obd2 readers for complimentary use
^
Good point about the car probably being an OBD 1.
But, even though those codes are not always very helpful, deducing what those codes might be is still the first step toward a good repair.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention earlier that I agree about those struts (probably as old as the fuel filter) being shot.
It’s up to date on maintenance. I wanted new struts but not for $1000. I’ll take it into the shop. Some thing tells me it has something to do with the gas tank/fuel pump. Like there’s a hose or something that detached.
you can install “ready struts” yourself. It’s the struts, spring, mount, etc., all assembled and ready to bolt up. If you by monroe or gabriel, it’ll be way less than $1000